The present invention relates to a suspension fork for a bicycle and to a damper system for a stanchion tube of a suspension fork of a bicycle.
Employing suspension forks in bicycles has basically been known for a long time. Suspension forks configured in particular as telescopic suspension forks are installed in downhill and mountain bikes and in cross-country bikes, and increasingly in everyday bicycles as well.
Most suspension forks comprise a pair of tubes stationary that are relative to the bicycle frame, the so-called stanchion tubes, and two lower, movable tubes, the so-called slider tubes, to which the wheel hub is fastened. The stanchion tubes may be held together by means of a fork bridge or fork crown at the center of which the fork column is attached as a rule. Most slider tubes or outer tubes are larger in diameter so as to accommodate the stanchion tubes to be slidingly displaceable in the slider tubes.
The riders of suspension fork-equipped bicycles desire suspension forks whose springing and damping characteristics can be easily and quickly adjusted to speedily adapt the current suspension fork characteristics to actual ambient conditions.
In some situations mountain-bike riders may for example wish to disable the springing and damping characteristics or a compression of the suspension fork to reduce the inclination angle of the bicycle when climbing steep inclines to thus achieve safer riding properties and a more comfortable position on the bicycle.
An increasing compression of the suspension fork is achieved by way of activating a shut-off valve with which to lock the fluid path in the rebound stage so as to allow the damping fluid to flow only in the compression stage whereby the suspension fork continues to compress in the subsequent damping movements but rebound is prohibited until the suspension fork is compressed entirely.
The drawback of these kinds of system is that in some situations it is not desirable for the suspension fork to compress completely since the change of the total geometry of the bicycle will be too disagreeable. Thus the trail angle and the steering angle will change unfavorably.
On the basis of the described prior art it is thus the object of the present invention to provide a suspension fork and a damper system for a stanchion tube of a suspension fork so as to allow a flexible and simple operation.